Townsend’s Amazing Run

Brian Townsend, like any other poker professional, would literally pray that he can run well in the events he registers for, yet during the last week he would have been hoping that somebody else could have done some of the running for him.

The inspirational player has been running an incredible 155 miles in the extreme heat of the Sahara Desert during the past five days. He has to get himself in to the best physical shape he has ever been in to even contemplate such a huge task, in which he had been compiling his own blog to chart all of the progress he had made.

In one particular he stated “This week I ran 70 miles in mostly soft sand with a 20lbs pound pack, except for today when I took 15lbs pack. Next week I want to do 80 miles in sand. Then I am going to dial it back to 60 miles as I have had three big weeks. Then up to 85-90 depending on how I feel. Then hopefully get two 100 mile weeks before I start a two week taper.”

In some instances his preparation for the race included runs of more than 100 miles, which included him carrying a 15 pound pack on his back. That work load mad him lose an astonishing 2,500 calories a day, yet he claimed that during the race he was expecting to lose an astronomical 6,000 calories each day.

After all of those months of hard work, training and dedication he did in fact finish in a much higher position than he expected. He ended in 78th out of 116 other participants which is incredible when you think that the guys he beat were all professional athletes.

Having now finished he was quick to point out that this more of a test of his body physically, claiming that as he got to the last third of the race he found it extremely tough to carry on going. However, he kept going, despite many other runners dropping out due to exhaustion, injuries, and painful feet or just not being able to cope mentally.

He claimed in one of his blogs that he thought the hardest part would be the physical challenge, yet as he quickly learned, that was the easier part when compared with the mental pain that one has to suffer to complete such a monumental achievement.

Kudos to him on a remarkable accomplishment, one that makes the life on the poker table seem like a piece of cake.